Best animated Disney villain?

[Batman1980]

I'm going to go with Maleficent, what say the rest of you?

[koontz1973]

Cruella de Vil. How can she want to kill all of those puppies. That is just beyond nasty. And she does get her own catchy tune.

Maleficent comes a close second in being evil.

[Meeklo]

Hades....he was voiced by James Woods...

Oooh, a piece of candy........Oooh, a piece of candy......Oooh, a piece of candy......

[Moviefan2k4]

Here's a few of my picks for "most memorable Disney villain", in no particular order...

Gaston ("Beauty and the Beast")
Shere Kahn ("The Jungle Book")
Ursula ("The Little Mermaid")
Clayton ("Tarzan")
The Evil Stepmother ("Cinderella")
Jafar ("Aladdin")
Scar ("The Lion King")
Captain Hook ("Peter Pan")

[reallyagi]

Professor Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective.

[Ernest Rister]

Man - Bambi

[Black Mamba]

Scar.

How do you kill your own brother and then move on and try to kill your own nephew?

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Black Mamba

Scar.

How do you kill your own brother and then move on and try to kill your own nephew?

Well, seeing as how male lions will eat their young and attack other adolescent males to control their pride, it isn't that much of a stretch.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Black Mamba

Scar.
How do you kill your own brother and then move on and try to kill your own nephew?

Easy--If you're a gay, whiny, panderingly one-dimensional Katzenberg-era villain.

Now, as for the Walt-era villains, OTOH, it helps to have clearly defined goals:

[recS-12]

That wicked looking man-beast thingy from the original Fantasia. Don't know what it's called. Looked like "Darkness" from Legend

[Al_The_Strange]

I would have to go with Maleficent too. She's wicked!

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by recS-12

That wicked looking man-beast thingy from the original Fantasia. Don't know what it's called. Looked like "Darkness" from Legend

That thingy is the Ukranian/Slavic God "Chernobog" or "Chernabog" (depends on what Slavs, Ukranians, or long deceased Disney animators you want to talk to).

Is he a great villain? No. All he does is put on a show. The light of dawn and the sound of a church bell drive him back into the darkness. He doesn't HURT anyone.

I think it is obvious that the best Disney villain would the one who caused the most palpable pain to the protagonists. Well, that has to be "Man" in Bambi. His mother is shot. Bambi is shot. Many animals are shot. The entire forest burns down. In a deleted scene, he was killed Himself by his own fire.

The Queen in Snow White is a murderer, she has to clock in at number 2.

Number 3? Mickey Mouse. Oh, yeah - Mickey Mouse in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". The short today is a disquieting parable of man in the nuclear and genetic age, racing to play with knowledge without comprehending the impact. Mickey becomes his own worst enemy and needs "God" to eventualy save him from himself.

At four, I'd go with Lady Tremaine in Cinderella, a model of calm, sustained cruelty.

At five, I'd list the community of matriach elephants in Dumbo, who vocally wound and hurt a baby elephant because of a deformity.

From there, you get a collage of villains...Maleficent looks fearsome, but she is eventually defeated in a few minutes by three fairies and a guy who can't string three sentences together. Does she actually hurt anyone? Well, yes, she causes parents to give their child up for adoption. Cruella de Ville must warrant a slot on similar grounds, as she is visually striking, separates children from their parents - she probably warrants a slot over Maleficent as she hurts damn near everybody.

But...then we get to Medusa in the little regarded Rescuers.

"Adopted? Who would ever want to adopt a homely girl like you?"

Ouch.

Medusa is, essentially, a clown. Beautifully animated. But she's a clown. With a tongue laced with daggers.

Look, I know this is out there, but Medusa is a devastating villain from the viewpoint of Penny, and from the viewpoint of the audience. The film has no sense of itself, sequence to sequence, which personified so much of Disney animation post 1959. People forget that at one point, The Rescers was an animated smash. You watch it today, it almost disquieting how ... well ... ignorant and vicious and sadistic and maniacal she is. And yet she has dropped off the radar as a Disney villain. But Medusa is a devastating villain - she doesn't hurt Penny physically. She devastates Penny by reinforcing Penny's insecurities.

"Adopted? Who would ever want to adopt a homely girl like you?"

That is one of the most powerful moments in Dinsey animation. Far more so than many things that came after (not all, calm down).

Those are my immediate choices -- next on the list would be Frollo (perhaps Medusa's twin brother), and from there, my goodness - we can talk about this for days. Those are just my first snap responses to the question.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Medusa is, essentially, a clown. Beautifully animated. But she's a clown. With a tongue laced with daggers.

And in the original ideas, was supposed to be Cruella DeVil, until Disney found out they didn't own the character. (The 101D book author did.)

[P@t_Mtl]

Overall, I will say it's Maleficent, the way she turn into a dragon, as a kid that stuck with me.

Recent vilain, Hades. James Wood was amazing as Hades, very fun character.

[YoungE8080]

Maleficent
Scar
Hades!

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by Black Mamba

Scar.

How do you kill your own brother and then move on and try to kill your own nephew?

You are actually stepping out of Disney Villain territory with that one. Since Lion King is a blatantly infantized rip-off of the greatest work of literature ever produced, you might as well say Claudius instead of Scar.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

You are actually stepping out of Disney Villain territory with that one. Since Lion King is a blatantly infantized rip-off of the greatest work of literature ever produced, you might as well say Claudius instead of Scar.

I always liked that comparison. I saw Lion King live on stage and it was tons of fun. But I did make a crack along the lines of: "I've read this story before in High School. It was called 'Hamlet'."

I'd have to ponder the favorite animated villain thing. But when I see any of them, I like to say "Sora's gonna whip your.."

[Moviefan2k4]

I forgot to mention one of my all-time faves in my prior post: Judge Claude Frollo, from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". That guy ticked me off and creeped me out at the same time; the finale on the church rooftop is epic, at least IMO.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

You are actually stepping out of Disney Villain territory with that one. Since Lion King is a blatantly infantized rip-off of the greatest work of literature ever produced

You said it!--Tezuka RULES!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimba_t...ng_controversy

(Seriously, guys--There was means, motive, opportunity, Disney was IN Tokyo in 1987 when the series was being revived, we have a past criminal record for Katz, it was one of the only 60's Japanese shows 'Boomer studio execs had heard of, and practically no one in the mainstream knew about anime in 1994, allowing for an easy getaway....No jury on earth would acquit, if not for the fact that Disney settled the suit with the estate.)

[mikejet]

Scar was cool. I like Scar and The Lion King. It's a family movie, why are people getting all hostile?